of Rovinj. South of the D303 intersection, D21 ran south along a generally flat terrain and consisted of relatively straight sections compared to the northern parts of the route. About south of the D303 junction, D21 formed an at-grade intersection with Ž5098 to Svetvinčenat. from there, D21 entered Bale and intersected the Ž5096 road connecting Rovinj to the northwest. South of Bale, D21 turns southeast and approaches Vodnjan. It reaches a short connector to the Vodnjan-sjever (north) interchange of the A9 motorway down the road. After another , D21 reached Vodnjan and the Ž5192 road junction connecting to Fažana. There are two further significant junctions of D21 in the next – one with Ž5190 to Svetvinčenat and the other with the Vodnjan-jug (south) interchange of A9. South of Vodnjan, D21 route continued another south to reach Ž5117 connecting the village of Galižana, and reached outskirts of Pula after another . Within Pula, D21 route formed an at-grade junction with the Ž5115 road to Fažana about further along. The junction also serves the Brijuni National Park. The southern terminus of the route is found at a roundabout further south, where D21 connected to D400. History In classical antiquity, the Via Flavia road built by the emperor Vespasian in 78 AD ran through the same area spanned by modern D21. The Via Flavia followed a north–south route in the western part of the Istrian Peninsula, connecting Tergeste, present-day Trieste, to Pula via Poreč. In Pula, the Roman road extended further to the northeast to Nesactium and Tarsatica – modern-day Trsat area of the city of Rijeka. Following the decline of the Roman Empire, roads in the region deteriorated. Only the Via Sclavonica is known to have existed in the region by year 1030. It was an east–west route spanning from Pazin to Poreč. Road transport in the region lost significance after the peninsula was divided between the Habsburg monarchy and the Republic of Venice. From 1809–1813, the Trieste–Pula route was rebuilt by the First French Empire, after the French captured the entire region from Venice and the Habsburgs. Upgrades to the regional road network continued after the Austrian Empire acquired Istria at the 1814–1815 Congress of Vienna. By 1830, the road network in Istria had expanded to a degree that would not change for a century and a half. The only significant improvement of region's roads was paving of the Trieste–Pula road